


The Dewy Black

by Mocci_Jiminie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angry Magical Rose Bushes, Angst, But there will be fluff, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Grief/Mourning, Insomnia, Just not yet, Less bullying because that aint okay, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overusing the word vine in chapter 2, Quidditch, Remus Lupin and Severus Snape are friendly, mentions of domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-09 08:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20991509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mocci_Jiminie/pseuds/Mocci_Jiminie
Summary: When his mother passes away, Severus finds himself without a family and a home to return to. There's a ticking clock that counts down every second between him and his reunion with Tobias where Eileen is no longer around to protect him, and the prospect scares him more than any other. But an unfamiliar ally keeps reaching out to him in a way that puts Severus on edge. With unclear intentions, James Potter is slowly inserting himself into his life and Severus finds he isn't as opposed to it as he should be.





	1. Eileen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GoldenEmpire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenEmpire/gifts), [OwlsWithFins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlsWithFins/gifts).

> Basically, what happened is I read 'The Friend of a Friend by GoldenEmpire' and 'Earning His Forgiveness by OwlsWithFins' and fell in love with Jeverus and so here we are.
> 
> You should totally check out those two, because I love love them and also if you wanna write any Jeverus just link it to me and I will read it. I actually have a problem and I'm so painfully in love with this ship.
> 
> Oddly enough, I couldn't be asked to read this through so expect a few typos and the lot, I'll go back over this sometime when its not too late for me to fully function.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

It all started the night Eileen Prince died. Severus was looking up the response to some of his unanswered questions from class, like any other night. Today, the object of his studies was Transfiguration, and the correct wand sequence to move in order to turn a butterfly wing to a stained-glass shard when he was greeted by Professor McGonagall.

It was typical of Severus to spend his nights in solitude, having nothing better to do than to research obscure magic. Of course, just because Severus passed his hours this way, certainly didn’t mean that the whole school would follow suit. In fact, Severus was never much a trend setter – rather the one who’s behaviour everyone strained themselves not to repeat. So, as McGonagall ordered him up and out of the library and lead him down the winding corridors of the first floor, they passed one or twenty faces of the nosy idiots that were the rest of his year.

Whispers followed him as he walked in tow of McGonagall, keeping his head down and his steps sharp. He’d become deaf to them by the time she stopped at a rounded oak door. It was painted yellow and was clearly peeling away, but she muttered something to it and the door swung open in one swift movement, like it had been practicing this move its entire life.

This is where she left him, although the eyes and the whispers echoed in Severus’s mind.

The room was empty of people when he stepped inside, weaving past stacks of dusty books and fallen heaps of photographs and parchments filled with loopy signatures. The quiet was comforting to him, as nowhere else did he feel so truly alone.

Naturally, this was when Dumbledore stepped into his field of view. “Severus, it’s good to see you.” He said, drifting over toward the desk camouflaged under scrolls and documents, and tugged a creaking draw from it. Slipping out a tinted letter, Dumbledore walked to the door, where Severus stood, and spoke, “I have a letter for you.”

From his place at the threshold, he recognised his father’s shaky handwriting, where it read:

_“Concerning my child”_

Severus held the impulse to scoff behind a shaking hand that he brought to his mouth and bit at. It had been years since he had considered himself the child of that man, and even longer since his father had referred to him as such. And yet, here it was, written in the scrawl of a drunkard who claimed to be his blood.

He bit back a grimace as he said, “My father.” And saw the subtle hesitation in Dumbledore before he replied.

“He is asking that we send you home,” He said, adjusting the glasses that lay on the bridge of his nose and looking into Severus’s eyes like he was reading the inside of his soul. He squinted to shield himself from them, but the feeling persisted, and Severus acquiesced that Dumbledore would know his secrets whether he wanted him to or not. “Now, it is against Hogwarts rules to allow a student to neglect lessons while enrolled here. It is unless the student themselves deems their absence absolutely necessary that we can allow them to leave, among other conditions.” He spoke slow and calculated. Severus accepted that he was an open book and allowed the hope that swelled in his chest to pool into his eyes and hoped Dumbledore recognised it, “If they do not, we can produce certain…excuses as to why they must stay.”

Severus allowed himself to smile as he quietly accepted.

Since joining, Hogwarts had been more of a home than any other he had hoped to have. “Severus it may be best that you take a seat.” He snapped out of his reverie when Dumbledore sighed.

“Sir-?” He tried to ask but was ushered to the armchair across from Dumbledore’s desk and took a seat. Typically, Severus was a fan of solitude, welcomed it actually, but sitting across from Dumbledore made him feel in a way more alone than he had ever felt. The sensation rippled across his skin in pimples and Dumbledore looked down at him in pity.

“Eileen Prince died earlier today.” He said.

A few words.

Severus felt the air rush from his lungs.

It was as if a boulder had pummelled into his chest and knocked every trace of oxygen from his body and strangled him for good measure. Before he could control himself, tears were rushing from his eyes and an ugly sound tore from his throat. It echoed again, and again. Again. Until Severus collapsed into a world of fuzz and his head tipped forward. Languidly, his body rushed to follow it. He felt himself crash into Dumbledore and his arms wrapped around the warmth in a remembrance of muscle memory he didn’t know he had.

He resolved to steel himself, even in the naked presence of his all-seeing Head Master.

“If that is all?” he asked, tearing himself away, and reluctantly Dumbledore gave him permission to leave once he’d assured him that Severus may come to see him at any time.

On his way out, Severus ran his hand against the peeling golden colour of the door and rubbed his red eyes raw. As he turned to leave and collapsed straight into the boy that had been stood behind him and escaped his notice.

He spluttered and recoiled until his back hit the freezing brick wall, knocking down something in his haste. Glasses slid across the floor and Severus got a good look at who he’d run into – James fucking Potter – and made a run for it.

At first, he thought to go to the Slytherin dorms, but when he’d thought about the torments that would follow about his swollen eyes and ruffled hair and changed course to the closest toilet.

He burst into the room and doubled over panting, only to see Sirius Black and Remus Lupin together, leaning against each other by the sinks. Severus’ brain was already so far out of commission that he was yelling before his thoughts could catch up. By the time they had finally reached him, the pair was out of the room and Severus was alone with his thoughts and the flashing lightbulb of the upstairs toilets.

On shaking legs, he walked to the shattered sink closest to him and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He searched his features for a hint of Eileen but could only see his father. Tobias’s wretched eyes and evil snarl. He imagined the brute’s twisted laugher as he watched her curl up and fought the bile that rose in his throat. Had she suffered? Had she died with that rotten grin staring down at her?

He should never have left home.

Severus was not afraid to call his father a bastard, was not afraid to lay his hands on Tobias if he ever saw him again. He stared at his distorted reflection: his raw eyes, his tear-stained cheeks, his tousled hair and concluded that he wouldn’t be returning home for a long time.

Spinner’s End was dead him from this breath until his last breath.

Severus had made sure to thoroughly wash his face of any sign he’s been crying alone, but soon knew James and his friends would turn up with their intrusive questions and hateful prejudices. He only hoped that they would get over it quickly, so he could resume his life without Eileen. He walked back to the Slytherin dorm long after dusk, as the night-time cold settled in across the castle.

Severus slipped into bed and prepared himself for the backlash his behaviour would have tomorrow.

Severus felt heavy throughout the next day, so much so that it took all his effort to flop out of bed and leave his room. Sleep had escaped him all night, and now he was considering a magic fix-it before his insomnia devolved any further. He found his appetite had completely disappeared when he went to eat in the Great Hall and settled for just pushing about his food until breakfast ended.

The school day was much the same. Severus sat in potions with his head miles away, absently listening to Slughorn’s ongoing ramble about nightshade, foxglove and other poisonous ingredients identifiable in the scent of a potion. The lesson drew on, but when class dismissed, he couldn’t remember what he’d spent the previous hour and a half doing.

Nevertheless, he hung back as his class mates streamed out of the room. Slipping deeper into his chair, Severus watched his Slytherin house mates slinking away, throwing enchanted paper planes between them that buzzed in the air and dropped miniature firecrackers, which exploded upon impact on Gryffindor shoulders.

He watched as they laughed and chased each other down the hallways in harmless play. Severus was about to turn his attention to the professor when he caught James Potter staring at him from side of his vision. Looking the boy straight in the eye, he scowled his distaste in more of a defence reaction than an active threat. Either way, Potter caught the message and followed his friends down the corridor.

He jumped to attention as Slughorn cleared his throat, “Ah Severus,” he sighed, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Sir,” he replied, standing from his seat, “I was wondering if, in history, there has been a potion – a sleep drought of sorts – whose hours of effect could be measured,” Severus twisted his hands together, “produced I mean, exactly?”

Slughorn’s frown seemed to lighten as he paused to consider the question, “Well it’s common that nurses should find themselves needing to stock an anaesthesia that last longer than a few seconds,” he paused, mumbling softly to himself, “…but, I wouldn’t know much about that- Madam Pomfrey on the other hand, she may offer you a few trade secrets. Yes, yes.” Slughorn said. When Severus pressed a little further, he added, “Dew of the Black is used as a sleep inducer in most hospitals, though Hogwarts may differ.”

Severus smiled to himself, pleased with this turn out, and thanked his professor for ‘sating his curiosity’ and ensured the information was all for hypothetical use.

His arms were heavy as the reached for the door and pushed it open, closing his eyes as he sighed and another wave of fatigue hit him. Severus resolved to work on the potion as soon as possible.

The frown reappeared on his face as he entered the hallway and walked straight into Lupin and Sirius bickering. Upon his arrival, the latter scurried off with a distasteful look and joined the other Gryffindor’s leaving the East Wing. “Hope I didn’t interrupt.” Severus said, making to walk past Lupin, who grabbed his arm.

“Are you alright Snape?” he said, and Severus took a defensive step back, tugging his arm back.

His eyes were heavy as he said, “Perfectly.” And his growing need for sleep rolled over him in waves.

Remus seemed dimmed by his response, but not so put out that he didn’t try again, “It’s just that- “

Severus’s mouth twitched. “Perfectly.” He repeated, sterner this time, “I’d appreciate it if you’d mind your own business.” He glanced back at Sirius who was a corner away from out of sight, “And I’ll mind mine.”

He doesn’t wait for a response as he spins on his heel and heads off for the library in search of ingredients. After several minutes browsing the elixir section of the library, Severus withdraws ‘Creams, Cures and other Concoctions by Beverly C. Blinker’ from its shelf with a sigh. If any book had Dew of the Black, this would be it.

Heaving the book to the closest empty table, he flipped through the pages in search of the sleep drought section, which he read was from page 689 to 707. Severus quickly found the passage mentioning the potion in question, titled _Anaesthesia_.

_Ingredients common among anaesthetics:_

_Crushed bleechwood_

_Squealing knapweeds_

_Dried rose petals (the blacker the better)_

_And bottled blue essence_

_(Where medicinal droughts such as Willow-Wheat and Dew of the Black, Grey and Pink contain up to all four!)_

Severus is about to go searching for more, when a hand on his shoulder rips him fully out of his thoughts. “Sev, I didn’t catch you after class.” Lily said, wandering into view, “And I was wondering- What on earth are you doing with that gigantic book?” She asked, as he snapped it shut and hit it from view.

“Nothing.” He said, voice cracking awkwardly.

She raised a brow at him, but didn’t press him to explain, “There’s a quidditch match coming up in a fortnight or two and I was wondering since you’ve never been to one if you’d like to come with us?” she asked, “Alice and me of course. She said she was taking Frank with us and their awfully close nowadays…”

Severus turned to look at her disapprovingly, “No.” He said, “You just don’t want to be alone. I don’t even like quidditch.”

“But it’ll be so terribly fun Severus!” She whined, slinging her arm around his shoulders and making an uncomfortable face he assumed she thought was cute to win his sympathy, “And you never have any fun anymore! It’s just the _library_, and _studying_, and your _beloved_ _potions_\- “

“What’s in it for me?” He asked sternly, mind returning to the sleep drought and already planning for the arrangements that would allow him to post-pone making it.

Lily didn’t seem to sense his change in attitude because she stuck her bottom lip out at him and twisted her head like a dog, “You get to keep your lovely best friend from being cold and lonely in the stands cheering on Gryffindor because her favourite Slytherin let her down?” she asked. “And I’ll buy you something for you next experiment.”

“Fine.” He said, acquiescing, as Lily’s pout split into a gleeful grin.

“Great!” She cheered, a little too close to his ear for the lack of energy he was currently running on, “Well, I’d best be going, Professor Varcious does so hate it when we’re late. If you ask me, he’s favouring those ruddy Ravenclaws. He never bothers when they turn up over five minutes after class starts!” she spoke as the ran for the door, and Severus heard her shouting echo across the hallways.

He shook his head, even though she was too far away to see him now. Lily always was eccentric, a fast-talker and an even faster thinker to boot. She was quick on her feet and could reply to anything with lighting reflexes. While Severus on the other hand, always spoke slow, calculated. He supposed that’s what made him a thinker and Lily a doer. Her sharp bravery in comparison to his relentless determination. That’s what made him a Slytherin and her a Gryffindor.

Severus’s eye was drawn as someone entered the room. He’d been allowed to study in the library as today his Muggle Studies professor had fallen ill and refused to take a counter-cure in order to stay true to his Muggle beliefs. It was to be noted that Professor Mulligan wasn’t muggle-born himself, rather just liked the idea of such a simple existence so much that he’d strongly convinced himself that he was.

Either way, his class was composed of entirely students from Slytherin house, which is what confused him as a flash of a red and yellow striped scarf caught his eye. Of course, it was James Potter who’d entered, and was bee-lining straight towards him.

Severus slid the book off the desk to hide it but thought that it was generally too hard to miss that Potter would’ve seen it and hoped he would catch the message and not ask why Severus essentially has his hands on the cookbook for instant regret.

Obviously, this was too much to ask for because the first thing James said was, “What’ve you got there?” And Severus considered cursing his lips to glue shut. Not that Potter had done anything wrong, it’s that whenever he opened his mouth, Severus could feel himself cringe over whatever followed. Just James’ general presence was enough to irritate him, and he made this known when he elected not to respond. “Alright.” Potter sighed, pulling out the seat next to him.

“What do you want Potter?” He bit out, refusing to face the source of his annoyance.

“I was just-” he began, but paused and said, “Know what, never mind.” And scuttled away, leaving Severus alone, pissed-off and confused with ‘Creams, Cures and other Concoctions by Beverly C. Blinker’ open on the floor.  



	2. Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus goes to collect ingredient uno but runs into a lil trouble...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter turned out to be something completely different to what I planned it to be. Still works though, this was just meant for a later chapter. I've always loved the idea of Remus and Severus being good friends, they just seem so alike as kids y'know?
> 
> Alsooo, don't be expecting all updates to be this fast. I intended to do one a week, but I have more "free time" than I really should (I should be studying) oops! Same drill, if you spot a mistake, just comment it and I will rectify all!
> 
> Enjoy!!

Severus elected to spend the next few days locating how and when he could collect ingredients for his sleep potion, to the dismay of Lily who, by Thursday, was recommending he wear a hat and scarf to the game he’d stupidly agreed to accompany her to, which had been postponed from midday to the late evening. This left only Friday’s early morning for him to collect the rose petals he’d set his sights on, growing across the furthest external wall of the infirmary.

He snuck out before dawn, pulling on his dark cloak, enhanced with warming charms that, due to its initially poor quality, made it about a warm as a muggle’s thin summer jacket. He was lucky that he’d had a natural proclivity towards black clothing in his earlier years at Hogwarts and slipped from his room in an outfit that blended into the shadows of the astronomical twilight.

Crossing the corridors at night went a lot quicker when there wasn’t the constant feeling of eyes on the back of his head and whispers echoing in his ears, Severus found as he ghosted through the hallways as if he himself was floating.

The hallway was entirely silent save from the quiet tenor of his footsteps on the cold concrete. Holding his breath all the way to the outside world, Severus sped up his pace as anxiety crept up the bottom of his spine, only when his feet were safely crunching gravel did he allow himself to feel a slither of relief.

The cold late-summer breeze blew his hair back and Severus felt freer than he usually allowed. There was something so tranquil about walking alone in nature that he found himself retreating into the chasms of his mind as his feet worked on autopilot to navigate him to the correct destination. It’d been a long time since Severus had walked alone like this, though he had a vague recollection of liking it some years ago.

When he wandered like this, he’d get the feeling that he was not alone. It was when he understood the obscure ramblings of old philosophers who proclaimed that “everything was connected”. The way the trees whispered to him in the wind, the early birds sang him comforting lullabies and the people locked themselves away gave Severus the feeling that, in the early morning, all was as good as it would ever be for him.

He stopped walking when the red rose bush came into view, not black but ideal enough that it would work. He would be lying if he confirmed that it was in fact a bush, as the plant has snaked around the building the way vines did and forced cracks into the brittle brick. Maybe it should’ve warned Severus that a rose ‘bush’ he’d read had only been planted 10 years prior had already broken through the previously tough concrete of the building, but he blamed it on the residual calm of the morning that his brain hadn’t clocked that yet.

Instead, taking a meticulously sharpened pen-knife from his cloak, Severus made work of severing the oldest looking flowers from the entangled vine, whispering soft apologies to the plant from the point where his knife made contact to when it cut through the jagged stem.

“It’s bad news to be out here so early Severus.”

He nearly jumped out of his skin, nicking his finger on the blade and spinning around so fast that he felt his hair catch on the rose bush and pull so hard he winced at Remus, who looked half amused and half worried to see him out so early. “What,” he gasped, “the fuck? What’re you doing here?” The peace of the early day had shattered like glass into a million pieces and Severus was _not_ happy to have been caught in such a vulnerable state by someone so impersonal. 

“Admiring the sunrise.” Remus answered simply, snapping his book shut as Severus fought not to call him on his obvious bullshit.

He grunted noncommittally as an alternative, “Of course.”

“It’s dangerous to be out here alone you know,” Remus repeated, not noticing Severus’s lack of care for whatever he had to say, “The full moon rises and all that malarkey. You might get eaten by one of the beasts that lives in there.” He nudged his head in direction of the forbidden forest with a smirk that seemed so wrong on his features. 

“I can take care of myself.” Severus snapped back but remained staring at Remus. He could make out the word ‘botany’ from Lupin’s book and wondered what he was doing out here so early himself researching plants. “Don’t speak to me like you know me.” Violation revolted through his body like shock waves and it was making him the usual bitter and tired mixture that spurred his need to fight or flight.

Sensing this, Remus raised his hands defensively and twisted his head, “I mean no harm.” He leant his head back against the brick wall and looked towards the sky. “There was another attack.” Severus thought he looked so much younger this way, when Remus’s eyes weren’t staring through his soul the way he found so often they did, uncovering all his secrets. Remus looked in a way that said he knew everything. Though it was a ridiculous idea that a 7th year like himself knew it all, Severus couldn’t help but identify some truth in the statement. His thoughts manifested in a dull throbbing at the back of his head and he sighed like it would remedy the pain. On some level, he felt that it did.

“What do they matter to me?” Severus said, feeling numb.

Remus glanced down at him, “I know you have an awful reputation for being so cold-blooded but,” Severus restrained himself at the criticism, “I always thought it was just a reputation. Don’t you care about your family?” 

Severus could repress the scoff that erupted from his chest. “What family?” He sneered, feeling naked as Remus breached such a raw topic. “My family is dead.” He spat, hot anger flowing from the tips of his fingers.

He saw Remus’s features warp. If Severus wasn’t sure who it was in front of him, he would’ve sworn he saw sadness adorn Remus’s features.

But he just steeled himself, and said nonchalantly, “Don’t stop what you’re doing because of me.” And nodded at the rose petals.

The rose petals, Severus remembered, and twisted back around. The throbbing at the base of his scull intensified and as Severus turned to face the rose bush he found why. The vines were twisting around the first knot he’d spotted like the initial twirls of wind that pulsed around fallen leaves. But the current grew, and Severus ripped his hair from the coalition of thorns to dodge the flower stems that flew up and whipped at the spot where his eyes had been.

Severus flipped the pen knife around to cut at the vines that had tangled in his hair as the rose stems slipped and tangled into one. Stumbling back, he dropped the rose heads he’d already gathered to watch the plant shrivel into a ball the size of a snitch. He sighed in stunted relief as he dismissed the plant’s reaction as a defense mechanism and stooped to pick up the fallen heads, when Remus was tackling him out of the way with a sudden force that sent the two of them rolling across the jagged gravel.

A hot sticky liquid covered Severus’s shoulder and for a moment he’d thought he’d been hit before he saw the gash in Lupin’s arm that blocked the plant from clawing Severus’s eyes out. “Fuck.” He breathed out, tearing part of his old cloak to cover the open wound and brushing off the gravel denting his skin as he stood. “You didn’t have to-”

“Duck!” Remus yelled and knocked his foot from under him as the vines jerked out at Severus again, “Protect your eyes!” He yelped, rolling away from Severus back to the wall he’d been leaning against. Severus saw him pick up the book he’d been holding before in the corner of his eye.

Severus’s rose heads lay at the foot of the plant, unmoved, and he would be damned if he let a Gryffindor get it for him like some helpless damsel in distress. He would not owe Remus any more dept than he’d already landed in. Steeling himself, Severus used a mixture of crawls and rolls to approach the plant, but as soon as he came within a meter of it the snitch sized ball exploded in a mess of vines that full-frontally served to cause him pain.

They shot out and sliced his cheek in four ragged lines while others curled around his feet and stuck inside his leg like hundreds of cork pins. Severus called out in pain as his knees buckled. But through the blur of green, he saw the way the vines lashed out at him but returned to revolve the very core of where the tangle of plant had been.

“Cut down the middle!” He screeched as more dug in. They were snaking up his knees now and Severus knew that if they reached the nerves there, they’d gladly take the opportunity to take his legs out of commission.

Remus dove for the plant’s centre, callous as vines sliced through his arms and swung his book through the core. The vines dropped as if the life in them had suddenly ceased to exist and Severus saw his opening. He leaped at the plant, vines still embedded in his calves, and snapped through them with his pen-knife.

The power bleed back into the vines but they had no chance now. Severus clawed his way through the green until his fingers grazed the soft petals of an embedded rose head that lay, pulsing like the steady beat of a heart. With a grin, Severus split the heart from the rest of the plant using his blade while the thorns embedded themselves in his calves and detached.

Severus collapsed, panting and in immense pain, but satisfied with the rotten, ink-black rose head he held in his hand.

“Are you-” Remus wheezed, “okay?” Rolling over on his back, and eyeing Severus’ calves.

His first instinct was to be overwhelmingly sarcastic and point out that, no, he was no okay given that he had hundreds of thorns stuck _in his leg_ but swallowed his pride. Remus had dived between him and the vine that surely would’ve made him blind if he hadn’t been there. “I’m fine.” He assured, flopping over to face Remus.

The whole scenario was so bizarre. What were the chances?

They both broke into a grin, and Severus found himself, for the first time in a long time, comfortable around someone who wasn’t Lily. “Thanks.” He said genuinely, before promptly passing out.

Remus must have carried him to the hospital wing because when Severus woke up, he was alone in the infirmary. He’d tried not to think about the disappointment he felt that Remus had not stayed to see him wake, and instead occupied himself with looking around.

He’d been in the infirmary more times than he could count due to too many broom-related incidents than he cared to recall, but each time it was always different, if only slightly. There was usually someone else when Severus woke, the sound of throaty coughs or the bitter smell of ailment elimination elixirs were two that characterised the hospital wing for Severus, who felt lonelier than usual.

He told himself it was nonsense but smiled like the traitor he was when he saw the black rose on the wooden bedside table that bracketed his cot into the wall.


End file.
